


Diminished

by Sandyclaws68



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Hospitalization, Implied KakaIru, Implied Relationships, Inspired by Fanart, Post Chunin Exam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 22:16:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4683350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandyclaws68/pseuds/Sandyclaws68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iruka keeps watch over Naruto in the hospital after his battle with Gaara.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diminished

**Author's Note:**

> Oddly enough it's not Berocca's [art](http://prinzik.tumblr.com/post/127865338727/%EF%BE%89) this time! :)

He looked so small in the hospital bed. Diminished, even. The stark white of the bandages and the linens on the bed made a stunning contrast to his lightly tanned skin. His chest rose and fell in a slow, regular rhythm. Sleep was the best thing for him right now.

Iruka felt an undeniable ache in his heart as he watched the small form on the bed. One hand reached out and stroked the soft blond hair, pushing it away from the boy's face. The medics had assured him there was nothing wrong with Naruto that a good night's rest wouldn't fix. The cuts and bruises weren't serious, and the chakra depletion not as bad as originally suspected. The last nurse to have come in to the room had encouraged him to go home and rest himself, but Iruka had just shook his head. There was no way he'd leave Naruto's side at a time like this.

Especially not when he was likely to devastated by a certain piece of news. News that Iruka had no intention of letting him hear from anyone else.

Although he looked relaxed on the outside Iruka's mind was still reeling from what he had been told of Naruto's battle with the Suna shinobi Gaara. Who's status as a jinchuriki was now known to everyone. Sasuke had spared no details in describing the fight to his former teacher; Gaara's transformation, Naruto's summoning a giant toad, the devastation caused by the wind and the water that had been used in attacks. An explosion of chakra and a head butt. Then the final blow, the long fall to the ground, and Naruto using every last bit of his strength, dragging himself across the ground in an effort to protect his friends and his village. His home.

And Sasuke had been visibly shaken when Iruka had told him what he knew of events in the village. His voice had faltered when he described the death of the Hokage, and for a moment he thought he saw a shimmer of tears in Sasuke's eyes, but then it was gone and that stoic Uchiha face was back. He had fidgeted for a moment before declaring that he needed to find Kakashi and report what had happened to him. That was fine with Iruka; he wanted, more than anything, to be at the hospital with Naruto.

Where he now sat, watching the room grow darker as the sun set outside the window. One of the orderlies had taken pity on him and brought him some food about an hour ago, but he really had no idea what he had eaten. The warmth of the day was still palpable inside the room, and it made him drowsy; eyelids growing heavy as his head dropped to his chest.

He started and nearly fell out of the chair when a warm hand descended on his shoulder. It took a few moments of blinking before his vision cleared enough to see who was with him. Tall, messy hair, lopsided hitai-ate. . .

“Kakashi -”

The jounin gave his shoulder a squeeze before shifting his attention to the tiny figure in the bed. “How is he?” Kakashi asked, concern visible in the way his eye tilted down at the outside corner.

Iruka also turned his eyes to Naruto, tugging on the blanket that covered the boy and tucking it in a bit more securely. “Chakra depleted,” he answered. “Cut, scratched, scraped, bruised.” He glanced at Kakashi. “Other than that he's right as rain.”

“Does he know?”

Iruka didn't need to ask what Kakashi meant, he just shook his head. “No. He's been unconscious since I arrived.”

Kakashi nodded. “You should go home, sensei. Get some sleep yourself.”

“No. I want to be here when he wakes up. I need to be the one who tells him.”

The other man studied him for so long that Iruka started to squirm in his chair. “Fair enough,” Kakashi finally said, so quietly that the chuunin almost didn't hear him. “But take this,” he said, passing Iruka a square of parchment that had a heno-heno-moheji scrawled on it. “If you need anything, or if anything happens, just flare some chakra through the paper and I'll come.” His visible eye curved upward in his distinctive smile. “And I mean anything, Iruka.” And with one last squeeze of the chuunin's shoulder he was gone.

Iruka smiled to himself as he pushed his chair back from Naruto's bed a bit. He leaned over and rested his head on his folded arms. “Just a bit,” he mumbled to himself. “I'll just rest for a bit.”

When Kakashi checked in on them a couple of hours later he was not in the least surprised to see Iruka as soundly asleep as Naruto.  It had been a long day, after all.


End file.
